A pen friend lost and at last found
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Maswood Alam Khan
'A toy lost' is a painful experience we all must have endured in our childhood. 'A toy lost and then found' is a bliss every one of us had relished in our nursery days. Losing anything is painful but discovering the thing by happenstance that was lost is exhilarating. Our hopes wane when we don't find our baggage in the carousel that after a number of rounds grinds to a halt after displaying the last few bags and suitcases on its conveyor belt. The lost baggage then found in the 'Lost and Found' section of an airport is a priceless reward.
The first impression I got about the United States of America was when as a kindergartener I used to browse 'Panorama', a magazine United States Information Centre (USIC) in Dhaka used to mail to my father every month in the late 1960s when my father was working in Brahmanbaria as a magistrate.
My curiosity was aroused when one day I found out in 'Panorama' a tiny column titled "People to People" with an address in the USA where one could send a letter soliciting pen-friendship not knowing who would be his/her pen-friend. My letter soliciting pen-friendship through "People to People" would go around from one school to another in the USA so that in the process someone could pick me as his/her pen-friend.
I wrote a letter---my first letter written in English---on a piece of paper, managed a normal envelope, and dropped it in the mailbox of the main post office in Brahmanbaria---perhaps without affixing any stamps on the envelope. I didn't have any ill intention to get the postage paid by the addressee though. It was my sheer ignorance.
A few weeks later when I received a typed letter in an envelope coming all the way from the United States I was awe-struck. It was Marc Levinson, my newfound pen friend! The envelope, the writing paper, the typing fonts, and the style of writing were all new in my life. Even the papers and envelopes were scented. The moment I used to open those envelopes coming from Marc a soft fragrance would come out, a sweet aroma not quite common in any other letter I used to receive from my other friends.
My pen-friendship drove me to learn typing. I became enthusiastic to learn English. My father gave me tips for my reading comic books to master the art of conversation and letter-writing in English. And I got addicted to reading Archie Comics.
I was not interested in news in newspapers. I was rather crazy to read a story titled "Davy Jones', the newspaper comic strips, that was serially published--three dialogue boxes a day--on the back page of Morning News in the 1960s. We used to get the delivery of the newspaper not before 1 PM as the first train carrying mails from the capital city of Dhaka was 'ULKA' that would touch Brahmanbaria railway station around 12 noon.
My pen-friendship with Marc through snail mails (in those days Email was not dreamt about) continued till 1968 and then we lost track of each other. Years passed by.
Losing an endearing article---a book or a bicycle or a moneybag---is painful at the initial stage and the pain ultimately melts away with the passage of time. But when one passes away you lose someone forever and you know s/he will never reappear in this world. A spasm of pain recurs throughout your life.
But, when someone walks out and never returns home it is something you really can't reconcile with. You went out in search for the missing and nowhere have you got a clue whether s/he is dead or alive. I know many of my friends and relations who lost their kith and kin not knowing whether they are still alive or dead. Their pains can't melt away. Every knock at the door wakes them up in the hope of finding their missing dears on the other side of the door.
We all at one stage, especially when we get mellow under weight of our age, enjoy reviewing our old golden days and long to see our childhood friends. Of course, we meet our old buddies who keep in touch with us. But, most of our childhood friends are traceless. Their faces flash through our minds. But, we don't know where they are, they are alive or dead!
In America, you can easily trace your beloved ones who have been missing, thanks to a vast array of informational resources the Internet has brought within your reach, almost at your fingertips. From data bases to websites to chat rooms, access to millions of relevant pieces of information is now just minutes from the convenience of your desk. Along with the advent of the Internet, public records are now increasingly accessible and readily available online.
A number of websites can help you trace your missing dears if only you log on to those websites and furnish the first and the last names of your missing ones. In a matter of minutes you can start searching from a list of names that are similar to the name of your missing beloved. The website will furnish details like street addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses of the persons you would choose from listed names. There has never been a better time to conduct a search for a lost loved one and your likelihood for a reunion with your old or lost friends or relations has been greater than ever before.
The other day I was reading an interesting story about a lady whose parents separated before she was born. After her birth, her mother married her stepfather who was the only father she knew for most of her life. She often asked her mother and grandmother about her birth father but no one would tell her anything.
At last she, then already aged 40, could discover her father with the help of a free website PeopleSearch.com. Sadly, she found out that her birth father died in 1970 in a mining accident. Nevertheless, she was able to locate several family members on her father's side.
She located her father's gravesite. In one afternoon she had knelt by her father's grave and cried at the thought that she and her father had never had the chance to get to know one another. However, she felt content that she could at least stand by the grave and pay her respects to the man she never knew but who had given her life. Thanks to PeopleSearch.com!
Just for experimentation I attempted to locate some of my Bangladeshi friends and acquaintances in some of those web-based search engines that help search lost people around the world but failed to locate anyone of them as there is no significant accessible data base in English about Bangladeshis which websites, such as People Search could get an access to.
Now that we have already passed a historical milestone on the road towards making a huge data base of our population with successful completion of the list of eligible voters along with their biometrics we can make the same data base---if possible in English---available in a public domain that can be accessible by anybody through
Internet from any corner of the world. Such access integrated with popular People Search Websites may greatly facilitate searching the missing and can bring huge succour to thousands of our grieving countrymen who are eager to hear words from their beloved ones not in touch with them for a long time. Many pleasant reunions between the grieved and the missed would thus be possible.
Meanwhile, all the cell phone operators in Bangladesh who are now registering their subscribers in English may also make their independent data bases with the subscribers' cell phone numbers and their essential particulars and make those data bases available for the public to access before a national data base in English on the basis of voters' list in Bangla is made available for public access.
Some quarters may raise the question of privacy. Here in America, if you opt to keep your addresses and telephone numbers secret the concerned agencies will happily comply with your instruction. But, the majority of Americans keep at least their telephone numbers, if not their street addresses, accessible by the public for their own interests. One such interest is to be searched or to search. The same system may be followed in Bangladesh for the greater interest of Bangladeshi public who have right to know who is where.
The last time when I visited my sister in Ohio we were discussing about weather, especially about tornado that frequents some parts of America. My sister told: "Kansas is a state where tornadoes visit quite frequently, not Ohio." The word 'Kansas' sparked my memory for my past pen-friend Marc Levinson. I told my sister "I had a pen-friend from Kansas when I was very young. I wish I could communicate with him". My sister promptly replied: "You remember his name and address?" "Of course", I replied.
My sister immediately contacted an office of the US Postal Department which informed her that nobody with the last name Levinson live in that College Street of Topeka, Kansas. Then she logged on in a website, keyed in particulars of Marc, and waited for a while. A long list of many Marc Levinsons living in different parts of the USA appeared on the computer screen.
With trepidation I telephoned the number one Levinson: "I am looking for Mr. Marc Levinson, who was my childhood pen friend. I am Maswood." An elderly man from the other side politely said: "Sorry. I am not the Levinson you are looking for. Good luck!" After trying three or four Levinsons fortune smiled at me as I heard from the other side: "Yes, I am Marc Levinson, your pen-friend. It's amazing that we are communicating after many years!"
The next day my best friend in the USA Mukarram drove me all the way to New York where I met my old chum Marc Levinson. A rendezvous with a friend I lost! Our handshakes were tight and warm; we ruminated over our old golden days. I enquired about his parents, his siblings. Since then we are in touch. After spending 25 years of his career as a journalist in Time magazine he has now been working as a Senior Economist in J P Morgan Chase. Had there been no revolution in information technology, had there been no open data base of American people, I would not have fulfilled my wistful wish to meet an American pen-friend with whom I corresponded 40 years back.
The writer is General Manager, Bangladesh Krishi Bank. He can be contacted at e-mail:
maswood@hotmail.com
'A toy lost' is a painful experience we all must have endured in our childhood. 'A toy lost and then found' is a bliss every one of us had relished in our nursery days. Losing anything is painful but discovering the thing by happenstance that was lost is exhilarating. Our hopes wane when we don't find our baggage in the carousel that after a number of rounds grinds to a halt after displaying the last few bags and suitcases on its conveyor belt. The lost baggage then found in the 'Lost and Found' section of an airport is a priceless reward.
The first impression I got about the United States of America was when as a kindergartener I used to browse 'Panorama', a magazine United States Information Centre (USIC) in Dhaka used to mail to my father every month in the late 1960s when my father was working in Brahmanbaria as a magistrate.
My curiosity was aroused when one day I found out in 'Panorama' a tiny column titled "People to People" with an address in the USA where one could send a letter soliciting pen-friendship not knowing who would be his/her pen-friend. My letter soliciting pen-friendship through "People to People" would go around from one school to another in the USA so that in the process someone could pick me as his/her pen-friend.
I wrote a letter---my first letter written in English---on a piece of paper, managed a normal envelope, and dropped it in the mailbox of the main post office in Brahmanbaria---perhaps without affixing any stamps on the envelope. I didn't have any ill intention to get the postage paid by the addressee though. It was my sheer ignorance.
A few weeks later when I received a typed letter in an envelope coming all the way from the United States I was awe-struck. It was Marc Levinson, my newfound pen friend! The envelope, the writing paper, the typing fonts, and the style of writing were all new in my life. Even the papers and envelopes were scented. The moment I used to open those envelopes coming from Marc a soft fragrance would come out, a sweet aroma not quite common in any other letter I used to receive from my other friends.
My pen-friendship drove me to learn typing. I became enthusiastic to learn English. My father gave me tips for my reading comic books to master the art of conversation and letter-writing in English. And I got addicted to reading Archie Comics.
I was not interested in news in newspapers. I was rather crazy to read a story titled "Davy Jones', the newspaper comic strips, that was serially published--three dialogue boxes a day--on the back page of Morning News in the 1960s. We used to get the delivery of the newspaper not before 1 PM as the first train carrying mails from the capital city of Dhaka was 'ULKA' that would touch Brahmanbaria railway station around 12 noon.
My pen-friendship with Marc through snail mails (in those days Email was not dreamt about) continued till 1968 and then we lost track of each other. Years passed by.
Losing an endearing article---a book or a bicycle or a moneybag---is painful at the initial stage and the pain ultimately melts away with the passage of time. But when one passes away you lose someone forever and you know s/he will never reappear in this world. A spasm of pain recurs throughout your life.
But, when someone walks out and never returns home it is something you really can't reconcile with. You went out in search for the missing and nowhere have you got a clue whether s/he is dead or alive. I know many of my friends and relations who lost their kith and kin not knowing whether they are still alive or dead. Their pains can't melt away. Every knock at the door wakes them up in the hope of finding their missing dears on the other side of the door.
We all at one stage, especially when we get mellow under weight of our age, enjoy reviewing our old golden days and long to see our childhood friends. Of course, we meet our old buddies who keep in touch with us. But, most of our childhood friends are traceless. Their faces flash through our minds. But, we don't know where they are, they are alive or dead!
In America, you can easily trace your beloved ones who have been missing, thanks to a vast array of informational resources the Internet has brought within your reach, almost at your fingertips. From data bases to websites to chat rooms, access to millions of relevant pieces of information is now just minutes from the convenience of your desk. Along with the advent of the Internet, public records are now increasingly accessible and readily available online.
A number of websites can help you trace your missing dears if only you log on to those websites and furnish the first and the last names of your missing ones. In a matter of minutes you can start searching from a list of names that are similar to the name of your missing beloved. The website will furnish details like street addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses of the persons you would choose from listed names. There has never been a better time to conduct a search for a lost loved one and your likelihood for a reunion with your old or lost friends or relations has been greater than ever before.
The other day I was reading an interesting story about a lady whose parents separated before she was born. After her birth, her mother married her stepfather who was the only father she knew for most of her life. She often asked her mother and grandmother about her birth father but no one would tell her anything.
At last she, then already aged 40, could discover her father with the help of a free website PeopleSearch.com. Sadly, she found out that her birth father died in 1970 in a mining accident. Nevertheless, she was able to locate several family members on her father's side.
She located her father's gravesite. In one afternoon she had knelt by her father's grave and cried at the thought that she and her father had never had the chance to get to know one another. However, she felt content that she could at least stand by the grave and pay her respects to the man she never knew but who had given her life. Thanks to PeopleSearch.com!
Just for experimentation I attempted to locate some of my Bangladeshi friends and acquaintances in some of those web-based search engines that help search lost people around the world but failed to locate anyone of them as there is no significant accessible data base in English about Bangladeshis which websites, such as People Search could get an access to.
Now that we have already passed a historical milestone on the road towards making a huge data base of our population with successful completion of the list of eligible voters along with their biometrics we can make the same data base---if possible in English---available in a public domain that can be accessible by anybody through
Internet from any corner of the world. Such access integrated with popular People Search Websites may greatly facilitate searching the missing and can bring huge succour to thousands of our grieving countrymen who are eager to hear words from their beloved ones not in touch with them for a long time. Many pleasant reunions between the grieved and the missed would thus be possible.
Meanwhile, all the cell phone operators in Bangladesh who are now registering their subscribers in English may also make their independent data bases with the subscribers' cell phone numbers and their essential particulars and make those data bases available for the public to access before a national data base in English on the basis of voters' list in Bangla is made available for public access.
Some quarters may raise the question of privacy. Here in America, if you opt to keep your addresses and telephone numbers secret the concerned agencies will happily comply with your instruction. But, the majority of Americans keep at least their telephone numbers, if not their street addresses, accessible by the public for their own interests. One such interest is to be searched or to search. The same system may be followed in Bangladesh for the greater interest of Bangladeshi public who have right to know who is where.
The last time when I visited my sister in Ohio we were discussing about weather, especially about tornado that frequents some parts of America. My sister told: "Kansas is a state where tornadoes visit quite frequently, not Ohio." The word 'Kansas' sparked my memory for my past pen-friend Marc Levinson. I told my sister "I had a pen-friend from Kansas when I was very young. I wish I could communicate with him". My sister promptly replied: "You remember his name and address?" "Of course", I replied.
My sister immediately contacted an office of the US Postal Department which informed her that nobody with the last name Levinson live in that College Street of Topeka, Kansas. Then she logged on in a website, keyed in particulars of Marc, and waited for a while. A long list of many Marc Levinsons living in different parts of the USA appeared on the computer screen.
With trepidation I telephoned the number one Levinson: "I am looking for Mr. Marc Levinson, who was my childhood pen friend. I am Maswood." An elderly man from the other side politely said: "Sorry. I am not the Levinson you are looking for. Good luck!" After trying three or four Levinsons fortune smiled at me as I heard from the other side: "Yes, I am Marc Levinson, your pen-friend. It's amazing that we are communicating after many years!"
The next day my best friend in the USA Mukarram drove me all the way to New York where I met my old chum Marc Levinson. A rendezvous with a friend I lost! Our handshakes were tight and warm; we ruminated over our old golden days. I enquired about his parents, his siblings. Since then we are in touch. After spending 25 years of his career as a journalist in Time magazine he has now been working as a Senior Economist in J P Morgan Chase. Had there been no revolution in information technology, had there been no open data base of American people, I would not have fulfilled my wistful wish to meet an American pen-friend with whom I corresponded 40 years back.
The writer is General Manager, Bangladesh Krishi Bank. He can be contacted at e-mail:
maswood@hotmail.com